Boys Noize, Oi Oi Oi

November 27, 2007

Boys NoizeOi Oi OiLast Gang*** (3.5/5.0)

The cover of Oi Oi Oi reminds me of Damien Hirst’s “For the Love of God, a $100-million diamond-encrusted skull that David Beckham totally wants to buy for his talentless wife. Only the Boys Noize version is a disco-ball skull, which doesn’t evoke hubris in the face of one’s mortality, but rather DANCING ‘TIL YOU DIE! Or something like that. Maybe it’s supposed to paint a friendlier picture of death’s grim specter as a crazy party guy who’s out there on the dance floor shaking it, possibly offering underage girls key bumps in the bathroom. But a grinning, hollow-eyed skull actually has a lot in common with those zombies leaving clubs all over the city at dawn with bloody noses, craving egg sandwiches. I’m pretty over it.

But then I put on the album and went, “Holy sh-t! A disco-ball skull is the perfect thing to put on this album cover! I’ve never wanted to go dancing before in my life, but suddenly I want to do shots with this skull dude and get a weird asymmetrical haircut. I feel compelled to stay out until dawn, losing my rent up some girl’s nose, and maybe getting into a fistfight with the Polish bouncers. Then I want to run out into the streets honestly believing I can fly.—Andreas Trolf